Climbing tree stands are well known in the hunting art. Such stands may be placed on a tree or pole and used to elevate the hunter or other user to a desired height for viewing and hunting game animals such as deer.
Climbing tree stands generally have a lower climbing member upon which the hunter stands and an upper climbing member upon which the hunter sits. Each of the upper and lower climbing members have a jaw, blade, or other device for encircling the tree to which the climbing member is attached. Each of the jaws or blades bite into the tree to hold each of the climbing members in place after the tree stand is located in the desired position on the tree.
One of the major problems encountered with climbing stands is the possibility of losing the lower climbing member with no way to retrieve it when the stand is elevated above the ground.
An additional problem encountered with climbing tree stands occurs when the user steps too close to the tree on the lower climbing member, causing the lower climbing member to lose its bite or connection to the tree and slide down the tree. Loss of connection of the lower climbing member to the tree can result in serious or deadly injuries as the user slides down the tree.
Foot straps found on climbing tree stands of the prior art secure the user's feet to the lower climbing member in an attempt to control the position of the lower climbing member. Installing foot straps is very awkward due to body position and large hunting boots. Due to the location of the foot straps, the user is placed in a very hazardous position if applied leverage is needed to secure the lower climbing member. If the user's feet were strapped into a position near the tree, the user would not be able to step backward onto the front of the lower climbing member to increase the leveraged bite. Furthermore, foot straps force the user to bend down to release the foot straps at significant elevations above the ground, which may result in the user applying pressure to his toes for balance and releasing the bite on the tree of the lower climbing member and sliding to the ground.
Securing the upper climbing member at elevations above the ground is a problem because the upper climbing member does not have the user's weight thereon as the lower climbing member does. Therefore, when the user moves upward, the upper climbing member may be struck and released from the tree causing it to fall on top of the lower climbing member.
An additional problem results from the geometry of most trees. Since trees typically become narrower in diameter as they rise from the ground, prior art devices in this field often provide a means for adjusting the jaw, blade, or other device used for encircling and gripping the tree in order to keep the tree stand in a substantially level orientation as the user ascends the tree. Regardless of the nature of the particular adjusting mechanism employed, such adjustments typically involve time, and occasionally, risk. While these adjustments are usually necessary during ascent to keep the tree stand level, tree stand users occasionally dispense with making such adjustments during descent in order to save time. The user may simply delay making an adjustment until, due to the increasing diameter of the tree and the inability of a non-adjusted jaw, blade, or other device to accommodate that increased diameter, the tree stand simply becomes dysfunctional. As a user descends in this instance, the tree stand forms an increasingly acute angle with respect to the tree in order for the jaw, blade, or other device to accommodate the tree's increasing diameter. Since the lower platform of tree stands of this variety are articulated with the user's feet, the point of dysfunction occurs when the angle that the platform makes with respect to the tree approaches an angle corresponding to the maximum range of motion for the user's feet.
It is therefore desirable to have a climbing tree stand able to accommodate a user's descent from a tree or other support with minimal adjustment in order to save the user time in using a climbing tree stand device.